Druzhba maintenance restricts Urals supply to Poland

Unplanned maintenance on the Belarusian section of the Druzhba oil pipeline system has limited the flow of Urals crude to Poland, but the work will not impact the schedule for November shipments, according to Russian pipeline operator Transneft.

Gomeltransneft, the operator of the Belarusian section, started the maintenance on 16 November and plans to complete it in three days. "Starting from yesterday, Gomeltransneft has started an unplanned maintenance at one of the lines of the Druzhba pipeline, having restricted [crude] pumping towards Adamowa Zastawa [in Poland] tentatively for three days, but the plan for the month is not revised," a Transneft spokesman said today.

Druzhba, one of the biggest crude pipeline networks in the world, carries Russian crude to Mozyr in Belarus, where it splits into a northern branch to Poland and Germany and a southern branch through Ukraine to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Urals exports to central Europe through the Druzhba system are scheduled at 747,000 b/d (3.12mn t) this month, 5pc lower than October. The November schedule includes around 127,000 b/d to Poland, down by 10pc on the month.

The maintenance coincides with rising tensions between Belarus and the EU over the migrant crisis at the Belarusian-Polish border. Earlier this week, EU foreign ministers agreed to expand sanctions against Belarus. The country's president, Alexander Lukashenko, has threatened to halt the transit of Russian gas to Europe if new sanctions are implemented.

By Anastasia Krasinskaya